


Is There Anywhere We Haven't Been?

by purplesucculent



Series: All Through Time, We've Been Here [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: BACK AT IT AGAIN, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, giving young queers hope, here the boys are, in various places i wish i could visit, turns out i couldn't stop thinking up places for them to go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25904182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplesucculent/pseuds/purplesucculent
Summary: Joe and Nicky visit various places, happen to meet some young queers again and then essentially become their chaotic-uncles/wingmen.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: All Through Time, We've Been Here [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1879915
Comments: 6
Kudos: 86





	1. Sopot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Nicky, my love, I can’t keep eating all these cakes,” Joe grumbled, covered in crumbs and jam.
> 
> Nicky wiped a smudge of jam from Joe’s face, smirking as he did so.
> 
> “You’re only saying that because you can’t eat anything properly and you end up staining your clothes,” He replied. Joe was offended, genuinely offended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed to write more of these and even though no one asked you're getting it anyway !!
> 
> Read the first part if you would like!

**_Sopot_ **

**_Sometime in June 2005_ **

****

Ever since Andy had dragged them to Sopot for some much needed time away - their last mission was a fiasco that knew no bounds, the chaos was irreconcilable – Nicky had been fed up. He couldn’t find anything to do in the seaside Polish town. Whilst it was nestled between two bigger cities, Gdańsk and Gdynia, where he occasionally had something to do, he had to take a bus to get there. It took ages. He was an impatient old man, he deserved something at least mildly interesting to do near to where he was staying.

Nicky’s moaning had become _relentless_. Joe couldn’t take it anymore.

One morning before he woke up, Joe set off in search of something to bring that man joy, and he was _going_ to find _something, anything_ because he couldn’t take anymore whining.

But before he could leave, he was intercepted by Andy who was on her morning stroll – yes, stroll - down to the beachfront.

“ _Dzień dobry_ , Joseph. What’s got you looking so glum?” He hated her, he really hated her.

“You full well know, Andromache.”

Andy chuckled. It seemed she only took joy from other people’s (Joe's) misery, he thought.

“Look, if he really needs some place interesting-”

“If you dare mention that crooked house _one_ more time-” There were only so many times one could look at a crooked house, even if it was an impressive feat of engineering.

“Hey! I was going to mention a bakery!”

A bakery? That sounded promising. Food was always a sure-fire way to shut someone (his Nicky) up for five goddamn minutes.

“Where?”

**_Late October 2020_ **

****

They had arrived in Gdynia late last night. Copley had found them a new mission: investigate the surrounding ports in the area, something fishy is going on. No there was no more information. He’d said it over the phone in ‘code’ – Nicky thinks it smart; Andy thinks it downright ridiculous; Joe straight up doesn’t care, whereas Nile was just excited. She’d been itching for another mission after their last one in Berlin. Months ago.

But at long last, they had a new one.

Most of their days were spent surreptitiously sat inside cafés, bakeries, shopfronts, and pubs looking out at the port to catch… what ever ‘suspicious activity’ they were looking for.

One day they ended up in Sopot. Another group favourite, apparently. Andy had owned a safe house (cottage) near here since the early 2000s, which she loved dearly and insisted they had to at least visit whilst they were here.

It was not the safe house, however, that was the main reason for their visit, oh no, it was a traditional Polish bakery – aptly named after it’s presumed owner at some stage, Sonya.

 _Piekarnia Sonyi_ was located, you guessed it, on the beachfront and, conveniently, somewhere where they needed to be watching. Nile wasn’t sure how, but she decided she wasn’t in the position to ask why, as they had in fact found what they were looking for – eventually – from looking out of the bakery windows.

They’d spent weeks sat looking out the window since the initial spotting. It was something to do with an illegal trade in exotic animals – totally new territory, but Nile was up for the adventure.

It turns out though that they chose this specific bakery to use as the primary location for their mission, as the gang knew and got on well with the owners. They’d known the two women, Lucja and Daria, who were now in their late thirties, since Andy had acquired their safe house fifteen or so years prior. Upon greeting them on their first arrival, Lucja and Daria dashed to the shop door and jumped into Joe and Nicky’s arms.

_(“So, no Booker?”_

_“No Booker this time, but we do have a new arrival. Meet Nile,”)_

Since their first day on the job in _Piekarnia Sonyi_ , they had a seemingly never ending supply of cakes and tarts fuelling gruelling hours spent waiting for their culprits to appear 'engaged in suspicious activity'.

“Nicky, my love, I can’t keep eating all these cakes,” Joe grumbled, covered in crumbs and jam.

Nicky wiped a smudge of jam from Joe’s face, smirking as he did so.

“You’re only saying that because you can’t eat anything properly and you end up staining your clothes,” Nicky replied. Joe was offended, genuinely offended.

“I- I- have never, not once, stained my clothes with goods from Lucja and Daria’s. Never in my life- they are too good to waste!” Joe spluttered.

“Oh, is that why you wish to stop eating them?”

“That’s not what I mean!”

**_July 2005_ **

****

That group of people had been visiting her grandmother’s bakery for three whole weeks now and had been planning something for hours at a time sat at the table near the window.

Lucja was beginning to become suspicious. Daria was too. She’d noticed them talking about heists and money and weapons (as her English was better than Lucja’s). Daria thought it was a deliberate move to hide what they were talking about as they ordered their food in fluent Polish, making the pair even more suspicious.

One day Daria confronted them after a particularly alarming eavesdropping session undertaken by the two.

_(“You can’t just ask them what they’re doing!”_

_“No? I think I can and I’m going to, Lucja.”_

_“Well… be careful!”)_

Lucja needn't have worried. Daria was laughing along with the strange group of people in no time.

“Lucja! Come here!”

She walked, quickly but not too quickly, across the bakery and over to their table, standing closely to where Daria sat. Something about these people unnerved her. She wasn’t sure why, but she was wary nonetheless.

“This is Andrea, Sebastian, Nikolas, and Joseph. They’re here working everyday and planning on their next heist.”

Was she joking? Lucja didn’t think she was. Heist? What for? Who for? Surely they wouldn’t have just told her that off the bat?

“You okay there?” One of the men asked her (Sebastian, or Booker, as she came to know much, much later on).

“Yes, of course. I… a heist?” She asked, unbelieving in whatever charade they must have been pulling.

“Yes. We’re intercepting a local crime ring.” Another one of the men, this one bearded, answered.

“Right. Okay... Anymore cakes for you?” They can’t have been serious. Although… It did make sense with what they’d both been overhearing. She can’t believe she’s actually considering-

“No, thank you. Unless you serve coffee?” The woman, Andrea, asked.

Daria nodded her head towards their personal kitchen in the back. Looks like _Piekarnia Sonyi_ serves coffee now.

**_August 2005_ **

****

Since initially meeting them, Lucja had found out that they actually were trying to intercept and infiltrate a local crime ring. And the heist they were referring to? A heist aiming _'to prohibit criminally transported and distributed goods in the local area'_ , naturally.

So, needless to say, she had been a bit overwhelmed at the whole idea. A group of mercenaries (?) doing their work from inside of her grandmother’s bakery. Yes. That was absolutely fine.

Daria had been really kind to her over the whole thing: making sure she had shifts when she did, not leaving her alone with their… _unique_ clientele, generally comforting her. Which was actually making things harder for Lucja’s ever intensifying crush on Daria. Shit. She was really in it now.

Luckily (maybe, she hadn’t yet decided), on the one day that Daria couldn’t be by Lucja’s side, Nikolas and Joseph confronted her about it. Her crush. These thirty-year-old men (?) had invested themselves in her _really, really, personal_ personal life.

(Turns out that down the line Nikolas and Joseph’s intervention _had_ been a blessing in disguise: their meddling had worked out.)

They weren’t being creepy though, which she had initially thought (because who wouldn’t, to be honest), but instead ‘providing a positive and safe atmosphere’ for her and Lucja’s ‘blossoming romance’. (They had actually said those exact words to her a couple of months later. Ridiculous. The pair of them.)

She really hated these men. (But she did really love them, too.)

“So,” Nikolas started, out of nowhere, that one evening, “You like Daria?”

Lucja blinked somewhat shocked and nervously. People didn’t really talk about that kind of stuff around here. Too many people that didn’t like it. She could tell these pair wouldn’t mind though.

She and Daria had thought that they were together. At the start they weren’t too sure but as time went on, Nikolas had been caught brushing crumbs from Joseph’s face and Joseph caught taking Nikolas’ hand from _over_ the table. So, yes, they had come to the conclusion that they were together.

“Hey, it’s okay, Lucja,” Joseph began, sensing her worry.

“I know. I just didn’t know I was that obvious.” She chuckled nervously.

Joseph smiled at her from across the table.

“Sit down, please,” He gestured, then pointing at the seat opposite him. Lucja sat down taking her cardigan off and placing it on the back of the chair.

“Your all she ever talks about, you know?” Nikolas reveals casually. Casually! Wow! What?! Now, this was news to her ears.

“Really? Why?” Now she was the one trying to sound casual.

“Probably for the same reason you stare at her longingly from across the bakery when she is not looking or over here talking to us.” He continued.

Fuck. That was a lot to take in. Good though. She was overjoyed.

“You’re sure? You’re really sure?”

“Positive, Lucja.”

Daria was coming through the door. She’d said she’d be stopping by before Lucja’s shift ended.

With one last look at a smiling Nikolas and Joseph, she jumped up out of her chair, running over to Daria and took her face in her hands.

“W-what’s this?” Daria breathed.

“Can I kiss you?”

Daria laughed.

“Hurry up, then.”

**_Late October 2020_ **

“I can’t believe we ended up meeting real life immortals,” Lucja announced to the group one night, once all the customers had left. They’d cracked open a few bottles of cherry vodka and had slowly been consuming them as the night progressed, "I just thought you were eccentrics from some big German city."

Joe chuckled.

“We weren’t really allowed to tell you that part.”

“Yes,” Nicky replied, “Keep it hush hush. Top secret.”

“You know we will, Nikolas.” Daria said with full sincerity.

Andy and Nile had long since left to go and get some sleep back in the safe house (cottage).

_(“Well, maybe you wouldn’t be so tired if you slept at night instead of spending it talking for hours on end with the girls!”_

_“We never wish to spend a moment away from these girls whenever we have the chance to be talking to them!”)_

“So, has anything else happened since we last saw you?” Joe began, “When was that actually?” He scratched the side of his head messing his hair up and leaving bits sticking out. Nicky saw it as his solemn duty to flatten the curls back down.

“2010” He answered, pressing a kiss into Joe’s, now neat, hair and leaning up against his side.

“We got married!” Lucja beamed.

Joe and Nicky gasped, saying something like, “You mean to say you waited four whole days before telling us!” between them.

“You were busy!” Daria waved it off.

“When did you end up getting married, then?” Joe asked, intrigued, bent forward with his elbows placed on the table.

“Well,” Daria started, “We were over in Germany on holiday and we decided just to do it.”

“We thought ‘We’ve been together long enough, and we can do it here, so why not now?’” Lucja added staring over dreamily at her wife.

“We’re glad you two are happy.” Nicky smiled.

“Does your grandmother know, Lucja?” Joe asked. Lucja’s grandmother had eventually found out about the pair by noticing their general behaviour around the workplace together. She didn't mind and offered to take them to get married herself at one point.

“Yes! She was there with us! We have to look after her a lot more now, she’s getting very old,” She replied, “Unlike some.”

***

As Joe and Nicky walked back to the cottage hand in hand, they smiled at each other thinking about their friends.

Andy. Nile. Booker. Lucja. Daria. And many others they’d met throughout their long, long lives.

Nicky began to frown. They all couldn’t live for long.

Joe noticed his lover's expression. Ok, it was cheer up Nicky time.

“ _I’m never gonna dance again,”_ He began to sing.

“Seriously?” Nicky smiled, “You’re doing this now? You’ll wake people up!” He continued and shook their hands between them, jostling Joe's arm.

“ _Guilty feet have got no rhythm!”_ Joe screamed, _“Though it’s easy to pretend,”_

Joe waited for a few moments.

 _“I know you’re not a fool!”_ Nicky finished.

(Nile had been right, _Careless Whisper_ was their go to number one drunk singing song.)

"No, no, please, spare me. Do not attempt the saxaphone, Joe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!!


	2. Stockholm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whilst they were staying in Sweden, they were staying in an apartment Nicky and Joe had accumulated sometime in the seventies. It was dimly lit, yet still appeared cosy, with well-worn furniture decorating the interior. Nile, Nicky and Joe were all piled on the huge sofa in the centre of the living-kitchen space, whilst Andy was seated scrunched up in an armchair that had definitely seen better days.
> 
> “Do you think we’ll be done before Christmas?” Nile asked the group,“Wait, do you guys celebrate… anything?”
> 
> “Of course, we do!” Nicky cried out, affronted at the thought of never celebrating anything. Seriously, he couldn’t believe he’d been asked that, he was like, the singlehandedly most joyous person on Earth (According to Joe)! “We celebrate everything!”

**_Stockholm_ **

****

**_Late December 2020_ **

****

They’d followed the illegal exotic animal dealers to Sweden. Huh, didn’t know there was a market here, Nile thought. She was still hazy on the details of this mission, but she was _pretty sure_ that they were supposed to get the exotic animals, that were being sold for auction as it turns out, to a charity who would help re-home them either in the wild or captivity – they didn’t know the state the animals were in yet.

Whilst they were staying in Sweden, they were staying in an apartment Nicky and Joe had accumulated sometime in the seventies. It was dimly lit, yet still appeared cosy, with well-worn furniture decorating the interior. Nile, Nicky and Joe were all piled on the huge sofa in the centre of the living-kitchen space, whilst Andy was seated scrunched up in an armchair that had definitely seen better days.

Nicky had cooked dinner for them that night and the smell still lingered in the air.

“Do you think we’ll be done before Christmas?” Nile asked the group, after a successful day of tracking, locating and liberating most of the exotic animals from the, shall we say, scummy captors.

Andy looked at Nicky and Joe. “Wait, do you guys celebrate… anything?”

“Of course, we do!” Nicky cried out, affronted at the thought of never celebrating _anything_. Seriously, he couldn’t believe he’d been asked that, he was like, the singlehandedly most joyous person on Earth (According to Joe)! “We celebrate everything!”

Nile looked slightly taken aback at Nicky’s dramatic outburst but wasn’t too worried as she could see Joe rolling his eyes behind him.

“Hey, I only asked since you’re so old, things have changed loads throughout your lifetimes, so I just thought - wonder what they _do_ celebrate or if they see the meaning in it anymore?”

Nicky looked even more exasperated, then turned to look up at Joe in said exasperated state, who laughed heartily at his facial expression, sinking his head into his lover’s shoulder, mumbling something that sounded like _"Oh, how I love you"_. Nicky smiled and settled down further into his arms.

Andy rolled her eyes.

“Well, I don’t really believe in most things anymore, but I still like to celebrate, occasionally, because I can celebrate what I do believe in instead.” She said, looking around the room at the others. It was definitely them she believed in. “We can celebrate Christmas with you, Nile, however you like it.”

Finally looking up from Nicky’s shoulder, Joe added “We tend to just celebrate what most people celebrate wherever we are, whenever they are celebrating something.” He looked a bit uncomfortable after that as the way he worded the sentence just sounded strange, but he shrugged and sat back anyway.

“Where were you guys this time last year?” Nile asked, reaching for her glass on the table and pouring herself some more wine.

“Last year, I think we were in England?” Nicky replied looking to Andy. She was the best at remembering where they had been.

“Yeah, we were. We were actually there twice last year. In time for Eid-al-Adha in August, and then for Christmas in December, too.”

“You guys ever been here in time for a celebration before?” Nile had decided early on that she loved hearing the chaotic stories they all had to tell her. (Her favourite so far was one involving Andy and a fork.)

A momentary pause hung over the room until Joe burst out laughing again.

“Shut up, Yusuf.” Nicky said, elbowing him in the ribs which was followed by a muffled _“Ow, fuck,”_ after which Joe fell into the back of the sofa still laughing.

**_Late December 1976_ **

Erik had been studying History at Stockholm University for the past two years and it had been going smoothly. He had made some friends and even come out to one of them, crazy right? (He’d come out to Madhav since he came out to him first. Tit for tat. He also happened to have a crush on Madhav, but we don’t need to go into that.)

Until the new professors and assistants had joined. Like, five of them. In the space of a month. Near the end of term, too. (What was this university thinking?)

One of the professors, Nicholas Smith, from Italy (maybe?), was his new professor and one of the assistants, Sebastien Booker - he couldn’t even guess at where that man was from, he would have guessed French, from the accent, but what Frenchman has the surname Booker? – was his professor’s assistant.

They were actually really good at teaching the course if Erik were going to be fair. They certainly seemed to know a lot about Medieval history, anyhow. Almost as if they were there themselves.

Madhav and Penny’s (Erik's two best friends) new Ancient History professor, Andrea (no last name?), was certainly entertaining from the stories he’d heard. Whilst her assistant, Joseph Jones, was rumoured to never actually do a lot of work. He was always caught hanging around Professor Smith’s office.

The final professor was, well, a bit (a lot) of a fucking creep. Erik had him once before Professor Smith stepped in. He always asked the female students to stay behind afterwards. Luckily most of them didn't.

One afternoon, Erik's History lecture had been particularly interesting. (Well, not the lecture but what came after.) Professor ‘Please call me Nicky, nobody has ever called me Smith’ Smith had been doing his usual upbeat, filled with genuinely funny anecdotes, spiel about the First and Second Crusades, whilst Sebastian ‘The opposite goes for me, call me Booker’ Booker sat in the corner calling Nicky out every once in a while and teasing him.

Every time Booker said something to tease Nicky (all in good nature, mind you - they were clearly having fun), he would go off on a tangent by how unfair he was being and often including half finished, fairly confusing sentences: _‘You don’t even know what happened- You weren’t even- I swear to- to- SOMEONE Booker if you-’._ Which usually sparked half the students present in the room to also call him out on something.

That lecture had essentially turned into Booker and the students poking fun at a progressively-getting-flustered Nicky. (This was mainly due to his theatrics when explaining about the various bloody battles. He even tried to draw some diagrams of swords explaining how they ripped a man apart on the blackboard – was he okay?)

Anyway. Professor Smith’s lectures were fairly chaotic and they were very helpful at the end of the day. However, Erik had missed the previous lecture trying to help Madhav study for an upcoming assessment he had in Ancient History, so he was… fairly lost and required some help catching up.

At the end of the lesson, he caught Nicky on his way out of the room.

“I’m so sorry to bother you, uh, Nicky," He inwardly shivered at the thought of calling a professor by their first name, something still felt off about it, "But could I get some help? I wasn’t here yesterday.”

“Yes, of course, Erik. Booker! _Puoi dire Joe sarò in ritardo?_ ” He replied, probably thinking he was being sneaky with that Italian, but Erik’s mother was Italian, so he had learnt to speak it along with Swedish growing up. Why did he want Booker telling Joe, assuming this was Ancient History Assistant Joe, that he’d be late?

 _“Parla Italiano? Non lo sapevo!”_ Erik answered, he wanted more information. Nicky was being shifty.

He maybe, laughed? Erik didn’t know what _that_ sound was. Okay. Moving On.

They’d been sat down going through yesterday’s notes for about five minutes when Joe burst into the room.

“Nicky! What is this with Booker telling me you’d be late for dinner? Appalling news. I simply couldn’t have it, so, I am here.” He said, walking further into the room and _tousling_ Nicky’s hair (!!!), before plonking down _really_ closely in the chair next to Nicky.

They’d definitely been right. Madhav had been telling him that Joe was always talking about _‘Professor Nicky’_ and how great he was, as Andrea stood at the front and just took it even though they should have been learning about Ancient Greece. She had looked so done whenever Joseph would go off into one of his speeches. Madhav had asked her once why she didn’t just ask him to stop, to which she replied “If I make him stop now, he will either complain for hours after work, completely ignore me and continue to wax poetic about Nicky or worse, tell Professor Smith that I told him to stop.”

Erik hadn’t believed that Andrea had actually used the phrase “wax poetic” even though Madhav claimed to have repeated her words verbatim. (Turns out she probably did say that.)

“Joe, please, I’m going over the first battles in the First Crusade with Erik, we won’t be much longer, I promise.”

“Ah, I believe I am somewhat,” Joe paused to wink at Nicky who may have turned a very light shade of red, “Qualified in that area, my heart.”

Nicky looked mildly alarmed before Erik grinned the widest, Cheshire cat grin up at them like they were some sort of gay gurus. Not a moment after, Madhav stormed in the room.

“Erik! I see you’ve decided to stay behind today and, in doing so, expected me to be alone! Without you! A disgrace!”

“I see yours has arrived.” Joe said under his breath and smiled at Erik.

Wow, okay then.

Erik’s lecture the following day had been even more interesting than the events from the day before. Today, Booker had invited Joe to sit in on Nicky’s lesson and he had also joined in on the teasing. However, Nicky hadn’t nearly been so harsh on Joe’s teasing, he’d just sort of smiled at him with this overwhelming sense of adoration – of which only a smaller amount had been given to Booker from his tellings off the day prior.

A girl in the row next to Erik’s had point blank asked Nicky (good-naturedly) _“Hey, Professor, uh, what the fuck?”_ . Erik was pretty sure her name was Marion, she kind of looked like one of the members from the _Velvet Underground_ record that Penny had shown him: wearing all black with sunglasses resting on the top of her equally black, straight and shiny hair. (Marion hung around with another girl and her only. He thought they were together. They walked around holding hands sometimes, but it was easier for girls to get away with stuff like that, he supposed.)

“You were up in such a rage with Mr Booker yesterday? Why cut the slack for Joseph over there?” She continued, still good-naturedly, with a slight smirk donning her face – she definitely knew the answer.

Joe and Booker were poorly hiding their laughter at the back of the classroom. Erik had expected Nicky to be embarrassed like he appeared yesterday but instead he smiled, eyes locking onto Joe.

“Well, you see Marion, I am simply at the mercy of Joseph. Even if his words are mocking me, they are still filled with the tremendous amount of love we share between us. In his playful mocking, I hear the years we have spent together basking in all things beautiful. By indulging him, I am able to hear his laugh - his laughter is something I treasure as it lights up his eyes and he is filled with liquid light and love just like that poet he likes once said. His joy fills me with a euphoria the size of a supernova. When I look at him, I am in fact looking at the eighth wonder of the world. Everything about him is beautiful: his soul glows with the goodness of a million stars. He said to me once that I am the sun that lights his days and stars that light his sky, he is all that and more to me, too. ”

A silence filled the room.

Nicky’s eyes were still on Joe. Marion smiled saying something like _“Dude, you should have, like, taught Literature because that was something else.”_ to which nobody replied, eyes all locked on Joe and Nicky.

Joe had tears in his eyes, locked in on Nicky, his hand clutched over his chest. Booker was smiling at him, putting his hand on his shoulder as he looked like he was about to keel over.

(Erik himself would have fallen over after that. If he was standing up. And on the receiving end of a rhapsodic verse from his lover.)

The lesson ended swiftly soon after, with nobody being able to concentrate, still stuck hanging on Nicky’s every beautiful, beautiful word. Erik had run out of the lesson to find Madhav waiting for him in the hall. He grabbed the other’s hand and pulled him hastily to the courtyard outside, until they were hidden amongst some trees. He took Madhav’s other hand in his and held them close to his heart. Madhav smiled this, pressing his hands into Erik’s chest, nudging him slightly as if to say: _“What’s this?”_

“I just witnessed something so good and pure and it made me need to tell you that I really do love you, with all my heart.”

Madhav pulled Erik close to him, holding the back of his head in his hand.

“I love you too,” He said into Erik’s hair and then moving to kiss his forehead.

_(“Can you see them out there?”_

_“Yes, they are wonderful, my heart.”)_

After Nicky’s little speech to his students, Joe mentally needed to recover. He felt like he was overflowing and naturally, the only way for him to sort that out was to make out with his lover, in his office, _immediately,_ after all the students (and Booker) had left.

Unbeknownst to them, wrapped up in their feelings and, well, each other, Booker had actually caught some solid evidence of aforementioned predator professor and needed back up. Pronto.

Still completely oblivious to Andy and Booker’s various shouts for back up, Joe and Nicky continued to stare into each other’s eyes in utter awe of one another.

“Hey! Whilst you two were too busy doing _I don’t even want to know what_ in here, we captured a fucking monster and have credible evidence to get the fucker behind bars- Are you even listening to me?” Andy yelled, storming into Nicky’s office. Nicky did a double take, looking up at Andy.

“Oh, did you need something, Andy?”

She burst out laughing.

“I can’t fucking believe you two! Hey, Booker! Come here-”

Joe had finally noticed that he and Nicky weren’t alone in the room any longer, nevertheless, he stayed entwined in Nicky’s arms and was pressed up close against his lover’s chest.

“When did Andy get here?”

**_Christmas Eve 1976_ **

****

It had been a couple of weeks since The Guard (Andy and Booker) had managed to get that professor behind bars, when they all decided to go to Stockholm’s Old Town to visit the Christmas market in celebration. They were all sat down on a small table just outside of a café stall. Andy and Booker were snuggled up together on one side, whilst Joe and Nicky were practically sat on top of each other on the other side.

In typical Christmas miracle fashion, it had begun to snow a few nights prior, leaving the Old Town covered in a pure white sheet.

“I still can’t believe that you were so distracted, you missed me and Andy screaming at you for a solid five minutes.” Booker sighed in mock-despair, a small smile gracing his face which was covered up quickly as he took a sip of his alcohol-laced coffee.

Nicky turned bright red and groaned, hiding his face in Joe’s shoulder, whilst the latter laughed in response. They weren't even supposed to have told anyone that any of them knew each other, let alone reveal Nicky and Joe's relationship. Turns out The Guard all loved each other too much to even pretend to cover that up.

“I’m sorry Book, but you know I will forever be lost in my Nicky’s eyes. Especially if he serenades me.”

“I did bare witness to this serenade,” Booker hummed out, deep in thought, “Maybe we are being unfair, Andy, the words Nicolò spoke would have put the finest poets to shame. Even Joseph himself- Ouch! Did you just _kick_ me Nicholas?!”

“No one. I repeat, nobody is a better poet than Joe,” Nicky spoke as he finally removed his face from Joe’s shoulder, “Also, I hope it bruises.”

Andy and Booker collapsed into fits of laughter with Andy spilling her hot chocolate over them both.

Joe smiled as he watched his family, laughing and shaking his head at them. It was then that he caught a glimpse of some particular students over at a stall buying some sweets. He elbowed Nicky softly and pointed in their direction.

Erik and Madhav walked hand and hand around the Christmas market, eating donuts and sharing a packet of sweets together.

Nicky glanced back at his love, his heart, cupping his face in his hand, bringing it in closer for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poem I was referring to was When I Love by Nizar Qabbani - I couldn't find out when it was published, but let's just pretend it was in the seventies shhhhhh! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! :)
> 
> I think I'm done for now, but I wouldn't rule out my brain coming up with more ideas sometime soon!!


End file.
